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Americans Prioritize Wealth Over Health

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In funding retirement, we are essentially on our own.

The era of the company pension plan is long gone and according to a recent study by Schwab Retirement Services, it appears that Americans are understanding the important role participation in their 401(k) can play in their financial future.

“When it comes to retirement, there’s been a significant shift of responsibility from employer to employee over the past 30 years, making the 401(k) plan a critical part of the retirement system,” said Steve Anderson, head of Schwab Retirement Plan Services.

According to the survey of 401(k) participants by Charles Schwab Retirement Plan Services,  Americans view a 401(k) as a critical priority:

  • 90% of respondents say they’d think twice about taking a job if it didn’t offer a 401(k) plan
  • Most people (73%) would rather have their 401(k) balance grow by 15% this year than lose 15 pounds
  • More than two-thirds (68%) consider making good 401(k) investment choices is a key priority – even more so than staying in shape (59%)

Anderson shared, “Our survey found only one in five participants would be confident in their ability to save for retirement without a 401(k) plan. In fact, participants worry as much about having enough money to enjoy retirement as they do about being healthy enough to enjoy retirement."

Though it’s important to see Americans focus on being wealthy, as I recall from my American history studies, Benjamin Franklin didn’t just encourage us all to be morning people to simply be wealthy.  

His famous quote read,

“Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”  

Health is important, too.

Though the survey questions required participants to prioritize health and wealth,  becoming healthy is not mutually exclusive to being wealthy.  Pre-retirees can certainly focus on both.

For people who are overweight, it might not take too much to improve health significantly. Moderate weight loss seems to carry with it some big benefits.

According to Harvard School of Public Health,Weight loss of 5 to 10 percent of body weight can lower blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides, and improve other cardiovascular risk factors.”  

Cardiologists Victor G. Davila-Rowan, M.D. and Lisa de las Fuentes, M.D., at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that “losing even a little weight can greatly improve heart and vascular health, boost heart function, lower blood pressure and improve metabolism.”

According to de las Fuentes, “The greatest improvements in heart function didn’t come until six to 12 months after the study began, in spite of the fact that beginning at about six months, many of the participants began slowly to regain some of the weight they had lost.”

The correlation between a high Body Mass Index (BMI) and Type 2 Diabetes is particularly high, however.  

The Harvard School of Public Health writes, “The condition most strongly influenced by body weight is type 2 diabetes. In the Nurses’ Health Study, which followed 114,000 middle-age women for 14 years, the risk of developing diabetes was 93 times higher among women who had a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or higher at the start of the study, compared with women with BMIs lower than 22. Weight gain during adulthood also increased diabetes risk, even among women with BMIs in the healthy range. The Health Professionals Follow-Up Study found a similar association in men.”  

They go on to say, “several large trials have shown that moderate weight loss can prevent or delay the start of diabetes in people who are at high risk.”

The reality is a winning combination for retirement preparedness would include a commitment to improving health as well as increasing wealth.

I think that’s wise, don’t you?

 

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